In Mail Online, when Google shows AI summaries of keywords ranked by publishers as number one, click-through rates are significantly reduced from online search results.
Email Director for SEO and Editorial Ecommerce, Carly Stephen, says sites like her should focus their efforts on searching for “most resilient” brands, such as “Meghan Markle Daily Mail.”
She said:
A new study published by SEO growth consultant Kevin Indig on Growth Memo said, “The desktop outbound CTR could fall in two-thirds the moment AIO appears.
Stephen told Wan-Ifra World News Media Congress in Krakow last week that Mail worked with SEO software companies to examine the impact of Google AI overview targeting 5,000 search keywords.
She said: “If you rank the #1 in organic search, that (click-through) is around 13% on desktop and about 20% on mobile.
Stephen said that when Google AI summary was displayed in the search query, the average click-through rate for emails was 56.1% lower on desktop and 48.2% lower on mobile. She described the drop as “pretty shocking.”
Even the “best possible scenario” that appears online in the top link in AI overview, this has resulted in a 43.9% lower desktop click rate, while 32.5% lower on mobile.
“It really has a big impact on click-through rates,” Stephen said. “So the next question is, who knows how it will affect your traffic, because they won’t tell us. They don’t provide the data within our analytical tools… We are in a situation where it’s actually very difficult to quantify the actual impact it has on traffic.”
Google says, “The links contained in the AI overview get more clicks than if the page were to appear as a traditional web list for that query.”
However, Stephen insisted that “I don’t think the data is proof of that.” She said searches that finish without clicks are also increasing for non-AI summary keywords.
She also cited the search term for “Noor Alfallah News” referring to a film producer who had children with actor Al Pacino before breaking up last year. Stephen said: “In this particular terminology, there were around 18,000 searches in the US. It ranked number one on Google. It didn’t drive traffic to a ton of traffic for us, but it accelerated around 6,000 clicks. (an)AI overview is now 100.
Mail Online is the eighth largest English news website in the world, and according to Simarweb, it has approximately 260 million website visits per month (down 19.5% per year in March 2025).
“Most Resilient” and “Brand” Search for Google AI Overview
Stephen said publishers need third-party tools to assess AI overviews, but finding data is difficult.
For example, in email, she said, 20% of the “most valuable” keywords on US mobile provide an overview of AI, while on desktops there is data that appears to be 18%. In the UK, the figures were 11% for mobile and 12% for desktop. “But when we actually delved into this data, what we found was that it wasn’t true at all.”
For example, quoting the “Meghan Markle” keyword (the “big” keyword for online email), the data states that there is an AI overview, but in reality it only has an impact on the “people ask too” feature.
Stephen said, “It distorts the impact that AI overview has on your keywords. That’s a bit of a good news…”
Stephen recommended focusing on high-frequency search terms, including publisher brands. We receive thousands of clicks each month from people looking for the “Meghan Markle Daily Mail” and the “Prince Harry Daily Mail”. So they want to read more about the Royals actively, but only on our website. ”
If this can be identified in the data, she says, “I know where this audience is and where to focus on these searches… What people are actively looking for you is the content that is most resilient in AI overview.”
Google says AI overview is not triggered for hard news queries
Jaffer Zaidi, vice president of Google News Partnerships, told the Wan-Ifra event that the platform sends millions of publishers clicks per day and will continue to do so as the AI overview grows.
He said the AI overview was not intentionally triggered due to hard news queries. “It’s safe for now – it’s safe,” Polemic Digital’s SEO consultant Barry Adams told the meeting that the publishers, where search traffic is primarily generated by Google’s Top Story Box, rather than Evergreen stories.
Zaidi also said that the AI overview means that searches across Google are big. He also argued that users stay on the website for a longer period after being introduced from the AI overview, leading to better publisher values.
AI Mode: If new features become default, Google referral traffic “Undoubtedly trouble in trouble”
Mail Carly Stephen also warned about the arrival of AI mode. Google says it aims to answer “subtle questions that may have done multiple searches previously.” It is currently undergoing beta testing available to all users of Google Search Labs, Tech Giant’s home for AI experiments.
Google AI mode is more similar to conversational answers provided by generator AI platforms such as ChatGPT.
(Read more: With the launch of AI mode, Google threatens Breed News Media to dry out)
Google promises that the AI mode answer will include a “link to learn more”, but Stephen has shared a screenshot of a page about Jay Slater, a British teenager who went missing in Tenerife last year and discovered almost a month later. A lot of information is given to this page, and Stephen said:
Furthermore, she said that AI mode appears to be used to answer hard news queries.
Stephen said: “At this point, we’re going to be a tab in search results, not the default, but it can change very quickly and when it comes to the default experience, I think referral traffic from Google is definitely an issue.”
Google said at the beginning of May: “We are starting limited testing outside of the lab because power users feel it is extremely useful. In the coming weeks, a small number of people in the US will search the AI mode tab…”
In her talk, Stephen also summed up the threats from Reddit and other social platforms that appear more frequently from Google’s Top Story Box, from updating site reputation viewups for platforms that affect sites with voucher codes and affiliate companies, as well as their frequent algorithm updates.
Overall she said: “Search traffic will be reduced. I think that’s inevitable and I think we have to prepare for that.
“Even searching for brands that we can make for granted, this is like, “Oh, if people google the Daily Mail, they definitely want to come to the Daily Mail.” I don’t know if that’s true or not,” she added.
Stuart Forest, Bauer’s global SEO director, speaking at the PPA Festival in London the day after Stephen’s presentation, also issued a warning about AI mode.
“We’re probably heading towards the end of the era (of link-based web). As a publisher, we need to find another business model where we can monetize that content.”
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